A week of healthy demand for US grains by the world's second largest economy has been finished off by a fuss of US soy and corn export business to China and "unknown destinations" presumed to be China.

The USDA received reports from private exporters on April 27 that 1,440,000 tonnes of corn was bought for delivery to unknown destinations (viewed by the market as China) during the 2012-13 crop year beginning September 1.

The USDA also announced a sale of 120,000 tonnes of corn to China in the current 2011-12 marketing year ending August 31.

Soys were also in demand on April 27. The USDA reported private exporters sold 116,000 tonnes of soy for delivery to unknown destinations, again presumed to be China, in the 2012-13 marketing year and 110,000 tonnes to China in the 2012-13 marketing year beginning September 1.

On April 25, the USDA reported that private exporters sold 420,000 tonnes of corn to unknown destinations, believed to be China, for the 2012-13 marketing year.

In addition, the USDA confirmed on April 26 that a total of 265,000 tonnes of corn were sold to China, of which 90,000 tonnes were for the current 2011-12 crop year and the remaining 172,500 tonnes were for the 2012-13 crop year.

On April 25, the USDA reported sales by private exporters totalling 480,000 tonnes of corn to unknown destinations, presumed to be China, for the current 2011-12 crop year. On April 23, private exporters reported export sales of 165,000 tonnes of soy to unknown destinations, believed to be China, for the current crop year and 120,000 tonnes of corn for delivery in the 2012-13 crop year, also to unknown destinations.

The recent trend has been for weekly corn and soy US export sales to exceed market expectations. In the April 26 weekly USDA export sales data for the April 13-19, period, both crops saw strong demand from overseas buyers. Net soy sales for the week for 2011-12 and 2012-13 combined were 1,409,200 tonnes, above the high end of trade estimates. Net export sales of corn for both years during the week were 826,200 tonnes, within the range of trade estimates.